In a production shake-up that, to say the least, does little to inspire confidence in Russel T Davies’ current direction for the once-beloved British sci-fi franchise, Doctor Who will reportedly be dropping the titular Time Lord’s latest companion Ruby Sunday – as portrayed by actress Millie Gibson – from its story after just one series.
Per a January 19th report from The Mirror TV Editor Nicola Methven, the aforementioned Davies made the decision to abruptly write out Gibson’s Sunday from the show just after filming had wrapped on its current Series [the UK term for television season] in 2023.
In terms of her exit, after appearing throughout the entirety of Doctor Who’s upcoming Series 14, Gibson’s Sunday will be completely absent from this year’s annual Christmas special before returning in 2025 for just three of Series 15’s eight-planned episodes, one of which will focus specifically on wrapping up her specific story arc.
“Millie Gibson has all but left now and there’s a brand new companion, which is really exciting,” a purported BBC insider told Methven. “Russell is keeping things moving and isn’t letting the grass grow, that’s for sure.”
Unfortunately for those curious, it is currently unknown as to the exact reasons why – whether personal, professional, or otherwise – Davies chose to so quickly write out The Doctor’s latest companion.
As noted by the alleged source, Sunday’s departure does not mean Ncuti Gatwa’s 15th Doctor will be making a turn towards life as a solo adventurer.
According to Methven, he will instead be joined by a new companion portrayed by actress Varada Seethu, herself perhaps best known for having portrayed Department of Fish and Wildlife officer Shira in Jurrasic World Dominion Cinta Kaz in the Disney Plus Star Wars series Andor.
However, outside of the fact that she will portray them, further details regarding Seethu’s character on Doctor Who are currently being kept under lock-and-sonic-screwdriver.
Given Gibson’s confirmed appearance in at least part of Series 15, it appears likely that Seethu will make her proper introduction sometime after her predecessor’s last episode.
To this end, Methven notes that given Seethu’s delayed debut and the fact that Gibson will not appear in the 2024 Christmas special, The Doctor’s annual holiday adventure will likely see him accompanied by a guest companion rather than anyone of a more permanent persuasion.
Notably, this news has yet to be officially confirmed by any representative of either Doctor Who, BBC, or current series production company Bad Wolf Studios.
However, as captured by Deadline, the news was seemingly lent credence when, shortly after it broke, Gatwa shared an image of himself and Gibson from an upcoming episode to his personal Instagram story and sentimentally captioned it, “My little [Gemini]”.
Though her time on the series has already been confirmed to have an extremely limited shelf-life, fans can enjoy Gibson’s brief outing as Ruby Sunday – the first episode of which was last year’s Christmas special The Church on Ruby Road – when Doctor Who Series 14 premieres on the BBC and Disney Plus sometime this May.